A Burning Leaf

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Jake went back to Icicle Woods to get stronger. He looked around at the blanket of snow, the ice covered trees, and the frosty caves. He walked around in an uneventful few minutes, and then heard the rustle of icy bushes a couple feet away from him.

The battle didn't last for long. With Twayblade keeping her cool in the face of an evenly matched adversary, her speed won out and she easily bested the Snubbull within a few hits. When Twayblade was done she marched over to the sleeping Tepig and once again began to drag him away from the area. What fool uses sleep seeds on himself when there is danger around? What if Snubbull had instead decided to attack Jake? He could have done nothing to protect himself.

Leaving the sleeping Tepig at the base of a nearby tree, Twayblade nimbly climbed up into it's branches, hiding her small form within it's mess of twigs and snow. From here she could see Jake, but he would be unable to spot her until she moved further down the tree.

Jake woke up an hour later, noticing that he was moved to the base of a particularly tall tree. He looked around for Twayblade, but could find he anywhere, and started to call out her name weakly, from the Sleep Seeds strong calming abilities, and from the grogginess. Jake looked up in the tree, but it was too thick to see anything up there.

"Twayblade?" He said, still groggy, trying to listen for rustling in the tree he was under. "Are you up there?" He looked, trying to make out any shape in the dense pine needles, but it was too hard.

Stubbornly, the Treecko remained silent within the tree's branches, keeping herself hidden from Jake, despite him calling out to her. The Tepig, although fire type and having a large advantage here in the icy forest, was too naive to realise that this was a dangerous place and he couldn't just risk his personal safety like that. Twayblade kept still inside the tree, wondering what Jake would do next now that it appeared to him that she had deserted him.

Jake looked around, waiting for any sound to tell him Twayblade was still there. He waited a few more minutes before realizing she deserted him in the forest. He wondered how he was gonna get out of there, not knowing where to go from there. He looked for any sings of footprints, but realized that he couldn't find any because of his guide's cloak.

He tried to find a way to go, but he couldn't figure out where he was. He then decided to find his way out himself, getting up, and then, obviously, started to walk the wrong way.

With a small sigh, Twayblade wondered if every Pokemon who came into these woods to explore ended up wandering around aimlessly like this Tepig did. Though she supposed he wasn't really part of a Guild or anything, so he didn't have any training in regards to procedures that should be headed in an unfamiliar place. Nonetheless, the Treecko would have thought that he would have at least had enough common sense to try and find a higher point at which to scan his surroundings and find the right direction to head, rather than just wandering off in whichever direction took his fancy.

Plucking an item from a nearby tree, Twayblade leaped off her branch, paws grasping onto another nearby one, which she used to gain momentum and swing herself towards Jake. Flying through the air, she positioned herself so that she landed neatly in front of the Tepig.
"You're going the wrong way," she blinked pointedly.

This dice is not existing.

The Tepig blinked a few times before taking in what Twayblade was telling him, and looked at the Treecko. He looked at her for a few more seconds while he finally asked her, "Then where do I go to get out of this place?" The friendly Fire Pig took in the scene of the snow falling around them in the pink and orange sunset. The joyful flame in Jake's eyes was replaced with a look of pure amazement, as he has not seen something so beautiful before, even though he has seen the sunset here before. It must have been the snow in the light, reflecting it on the frozen puddle, which was reflecting it back and into the Tepig's eyes.

"Follow the sunset," blinked Twayblade as the Tepig turned to watch it. She quietly took a bite from the apple she had just found and watched the setting sun as its orange hues reflected in the white and pale blues of the snow and ice around them. She saw this nearly every night from the treetops, but even she appreciated its beauty. After standing for a few silent moments, the Treecko began to wander off towards the sunset. If you squinted, you would be able to spot the peak of Mt. Frostmeer within the dimming sunlight.

The Tepig realized Twayblade was going off towards the sunset. She told him to follow it to get to Mt. Frostmeer, and now he realized that there was a shape in the light, looking like a peak of a Mountain. Jake decided to follow the Treecko, to find his way to the snowy tower of frozen earth. On the way, he almost lost Twayblade, because of the sheer beauty of the snow's reflection of the dim light, that's slowly becoming dimmer as time goes on. In about an hour or so, the sun was out of the sky completely, and night was starting to make the Fire type tired. "I think we should get some sleep," Jake called after the Treecko, who was now much farther ahead of him. "I don't think I can go much farther ahead without falling asleep."

As night had begun to fall and the Tepig had begun to lag behind, Twayblade actively began to search for somewhere to rest. She hadn't found anywhere by the time Jake asked to rest, but knew of a place a bit further ahead.
"If you can walk a little further I know of a tree with hollow roots we can sleep under. It'll be both safer and warmer for you, and i'll stay in the tree above where I can see other pokemon appraching," she suggested, halting her movement to wait for the Tepig to catch up.

Jake heard the news about where he can rest, and hurried as fast as he could to get back to Twayblade.  He caught up with her, and walked a bit farther on.  By that time, the only light from the moon was barely showing in the forest floor.  But it was enough to see the tree the Tepig's guide had described. He could see the outline of an opening under the tree that he could go to sleep in. The little bit of flaming energy he had left was completely used up to get the Fire Pig into that opening, and almost collapsed there then, but remembered to do something first. He poked his head out of the hole and thanked Twayblade for all the help she had been, and how grateful he is for her help.

Twayblade made sure that the Tepig was under the roots of the tree before she neatly climbed the trunk of said tree. She was about halfway up when Jake poked his head back out to thank her. "You're welcome," she replied quietly, a small smile on her face. As the Tepig's head retreated beneath the tree's roots once more the Treecko turned and continued climbing up the tree, feeling the miniscule hooks on her paws attach to the rough bark of the tree. Reaching a suitable branch, she clambered up with little effort and settled herself against the tree's trunk. From where she curled to go to sleep she could see the moon, positioned high above the snow covered trees, casting it's reflection of pale white light upon the icy forest. It was with this tranquil sight that she fell asleep, her dreams a manifestation of that pure calmness that came with the moonlight.

That night Jake had dreamed of a place he had seen only in pictures, the peek of Mt Frostmeer. He was standing there, but not like he imagined he would have been when he got there. He looked like an orange, beat-up bag with a face. He wasn't like he usually was, energetic, and he noticed Twayblade was there, too. He realized that he might not have been ready for the harsh weather, as he thought he had, but then he realized it was only a dream, he might come out of the area looking better than he does here. He had only collapsed from sheer exhaustion so far on this journey. But as this went on, he realized that Pokemon were attacking them, Jake helpless, not able to do a thing. As he went on, he seemed to be getting hurt by every passing second, then realized his leg was broken. But it seemed he was still going on, determined to get to the peak.

The calmness of Twayblade's own dreams was completely shattered as the tell tale signs of the Tepig's bad dream filled her ears, slowly turning the icy landscape in the Treecko's mind black with fear. With every step, where there had previously been but a soft, fresh layer of snow, she would find herself standing on black icicles, sticking up from the ground and impaling her feet as she walked. Where there was once a quiet, white snowfield, there was now a black layer of ice and howling winds. But being used to the ice of the forest, blizzard or gentle snow fall, this she was not scared of. She could tolerate and handle the black ice, like she had done her entire life living in the Icicle Woods.

What truly scared her was the uncontrollable rage that was fire. She despised how the element could sweep through forests and leave nothing but ash, how it could pass by a pond and leave nothing but dry soil, how it could warm you if you stayed clear, but burn you if you got an inch too close. As flames swept through the icy landscape that had previously been her dream, she found herself awaking in cold sweat, taking deep breaths. As she calmed herself down, she heard the signs of Jake's own nightmare. Though hesitant at first, she soon clambered down from the treetop, peering into the roots that the Tepig slept under.
"Jake," she whispered, keeping quiet lest other pokemon be in the area, but hopefully loud enough for the Tepig to hear, "Wake up."

Jake woke up when he heard the hushed voice of Twayblade near him, telling him to wake up.  He looked around, but he didn't see any signs of danger around him.  He remembered the dream he had last night, which had ended with him falling off a cliff, almost at the peak of the mountain.  Then his mind went black, but he never woke up. Just before he woke up, he had dreamed that he had gone to a place full of nothing but darkness. After he woke up, he guessed he must have been thrashing around in his sleep, or at least making some sort of noise. The Tepig looked at the Wood Gecko Pokemon, and realized that it was still dark out. "It's still night?" He asked, but looked at the east, and saw the Sun start to rise up, but it looked white, probably because of the snow. "Oh, the Sun is just rising. Why don't I ever look around before I ask questions?" The Flame Hog asked himself.

Twayblade didn't even have chance to answer the Tepig's question as he answered it himself. Instead she turned towards the rising sun as it spread it's orange hued dawn light over the icy forest. The maze of trees, still perpetually coated in stark, white snow, took on the embers of the morning sun.
"I can't answer that, since I can't reach into the recesses of your mind," replied the Treecko with a small hint of a chuckle, "But when you're awake enough to keep moving, let me know."